Gimme Gimme Gimme a Swedish Meatball After Midnight

Our welcome dinner in Stockholm was at Restaurang Kvarnen: a historically significant Swedish restaurant in Stockholm that has served as a spot for Swedish home cooking since 1908. Like many of the other restaurants that we have been to in Scandinavia, a elderflower based drink was featured on the drink menu. Elderflower is common in the Northern Hemisphere and is used in drinks across Europe. The main feature of the meal was the Swedish meatballs with lingonberries, gravy, and mashed potatoes. These meatballs are an iconic fixture in Sweden and it was a fitting start to our stay here. I thought it was interesting to see the difference between the central dishes in Denmark and Sweden. In Denmark, smørrebrød gave restaurants the ability to plate a piece of bread with a variety of toppings depending on the season and availability of ingredients. It was easy for smørrebrød to become a part of Danish fine dining because it could be made delicate and elaborate. The Swedish meatballs, in comparison, could fill a plate with its gravy and lingonberries, and also limited the number of seasonal ingredients that would be served with the traditional dish. Both dishes are delicious and have their own unique history, but it will be interesting to see if Swedish meatballs have become a part of Swedish fine dining the way smørrebrød is a part of Danish fine dining.